Better Auth Protected Routes

What it does

This skill secures API endpoints in Next.js applications by automatically verifying authentication tokens before allowing access to protected routes. It integrates directly with the better-auth library to handle session validation and user identity checks without manual implementation.

When to use it

• You are building a Next.js application that requires secure, private API endpoints.
• You want to offload complex authentication logic from your main application code.
• Your project already utilizes the better-auth library for user management.
• You need to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data or administrative functions.

Key capabilities

• Automatically validates incoming requests against active user sessions.
• Blocks unauthenticated users from accessing specific route handlers.
• Reduces boilerplate code required for manual token verification.
• Ensures consistent security policies across the entire application.

Example prompts

• "Secure my Next.js API routes using better-auth to ensure only logged-in users can access them."
• "How do I implement protected endpoints in a full-stack recipe using better-auth?"
• "Create a secure route handler that verifies the user's session before returning data."

Tips & gotchas

Ensure you have better-auth correctly installed and configured in your project before applying this skill, as it relies on existing session infrastructure. This approach is specifically designed for Next.js environments; using it with other frameworks may require significant adaptation or will not function as intended.